Yes, there is [a chance for romance],” Capaldi said today at the debut Doctor Who festival in London. “I’m trying not to give it away.”

Kingston’s last appearance came in 2013’s The Name of the Doctor, where she shared a kiss with Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith before saying her (apparently at the time) final farewells – but Capaldi was quick to insist that this appearance wouldn’t be a re-run of her relationship with Doctors past.

“My Doctor is different from the Doctors who were there when Alex first arrived,” Capaldi said. “This Doctor’s different from that. It’s a different dynamic.”